Carpātis Nostris Fāta
by Deuceposter
Summary: Series of freewrites done in traffic. Filling in the gaps of story with headcanon following Vashti Bradley and the maidens of Backwater's Fated platoon.
1. Chapter 1

Vashti checked and double checked the tote bag she had slung over her shoulder. It was less for making sure that the gifts from everyone were there when she packed them (even though she still wasn't quite sure... she _was_ half-asleep when she packed) and more of a way to stall actually going into the hospital. So there she stood in front of the door, unzipping, peeking in, and then re-zipping the thing until a doctor had passed by her, clearly frowning at this odd, taller-than-average woman suffering from anterograde amnesia.

Reluctantly it was getting to the point that Vashti could not delay the inevitable any longer. With a deep breath, she plowed through the wide double-doors… almost literally as she forgot that she was a metal maiden now, practically taking the doors off their hinges with her strength. Despite having terrified the front-desk staff, they were still very helpful in helping her find her objective- Sophie Arden's room. Quietly she walked the hospital's sterile white halls, trying her best not to stand out. Again, difficult given her height and Freedonian uniform; there weren't many Freedonians serving on the United Front yet aside from metal maidens like herself. Vashti shook her head, trying to pull herself from the pit of her own thoughts- Sophie and the others always told her to pay more attention, as she was prone to fits of reverie that distracted from her duties.

And then her train of thought lead her down that dark place that she tried to avoid. Events that she purposely tried to remember in patches- big black spots in her mind's eye that she could take solace in not quite remembering the _exact_ details. She shook her head again, trying to focus on a more positive point of that day.

Sophie's injuries were _bad_ … but not _that_ bad… or at least that is what Vashti thought. If anything, it was her pride that took the biggest blow… though her Gear was still irreparably damaged- _thankfully_. Everyone had feared the worst when their captain had been pulled from the flaming wreckage, bloodied, but luckily not completely broken. Vashti's own Norn squad had been there as backup- able to rush to Oracle's aid once Sophie fell. It certainly was the fastest Vashti had ever moved in her life as she rushed to place herself between that… _thing_ … and her fallen comrade.

She couldn't help but feel that it was still her fault, despite not being capable of changing a thing about what had happened. Sophie had refused a second heavy tank in Oracle when Vashti had stepped down to lead Norn squad, claiming that she could handle the brunt of combat. What made it worse was that Vashti had stepped down from Oracle for not the most… respectable of reasons.

Perhaps it was to be her chance to redeem herself.

The Maiden Wing of the hospital was a brand new addition as of late, and as such should have been buzzing with activity. Instead, Vashti's footsteps echoed down the vacant and cold hall. Halls _and_ rooms from the looks of it… almost every door lay ajar, hospital beds empty but still slightly disheveled.

It was unnerving to say the least. Vashti would be lying if she said her normally lethargic pace didn't increase then and there. Despite the increased speed, it still felt like minutes flew by as she fell in a hypnotic trance from seeing the same things pass by constantly. Vashti screeched to a halt awkwardly in the hallway- She skipped by Sophie's room- the _only_ room in the hall with a name placard.

That meant Sophie must have seen her zoom by through her open door.

With the utmost trepidation she knocked on the door, timidly standing half-in, half-out of sight.

"Sophie? I-it's me." Vashti called out, half hoping the heavy tank maiden was asleep.

"Well well, lazybones, it is about time you visited me again." Sophie's thick Bavarian accent did little to hide the energy of her youthful voice. At least she sounded like her old, chipper self.

Steeling her nerves, Vashti stepped into the room, smoothing out her sweater and adjusting her soft cover as she approached, suddenly worrying about her blustered appearance- as if Sophie had never seen her more slovenly side before...

"If it is not my favorite Freedonian," the pink-haired girl practically purred as Vashti took a seat next to her bed, "What did you bring me today?" The small woman had gingerly put the novela she was reading down, motor function of her right arm still not fully recovered. In her ruby red eyes, Vashti could see a glint of pain, but Sophie continued smiling through it. She tilted her head to regard Vashti's odd pause, silken pink hair swaying. Her iconic cat-paw hairpin glinting with its painstakingly polished sheen. Even when her skull was split and bleeding profusely, Sophie had refused to let the doctors or professor Portia to touch it for fear of it getting smudged.

"I- um-."

Sophie's bright smile vanished in an instant. With the swiftness of a metal maiden whose arm had _not_ nearly been torn off by an explosion (which is to say, still _much_ faster than a normal human), the veteran swooped up her paper-back novella and bopped Vashti over the head with it.

"Out with it!" Sophie had always hated when Vashti hesitated- or was it she just hated how slow Vashti spoke? "If you want the commander's attention you need to be decisive!"

"I took the position!" Vashti cried out, shying away from the book that was held aloft for another strike.

But it didn't come.

Through one cracked eye, Vashti spied that it would never.

Sophie had let the book slip from her once-sure grasp. Instead of the strong, confidant Sophie that everyone in S.V.S and Backwater knew… the Sophie that _Vashti_ was expecting, she found only a young woman in tears.

"Sophie?" It was something completely alien to Vashti.

Sophie Arden. Queen Tiger. First of the Fated. Pride of her Fatherland…

Crying.

The small woman's arms had gone limp, her head tilted back so that her hair splayed wildly over the pillows that propped her up, mouth agape with fangs bared in a silent wail of anguish.

Vashti had no frame of reference- no understanding of what she could do at that very moment. Sophie's pain stabbed at Vashti's heart, but at the same time she was frozen in fear of this broken, fragile woman before her. This was a moment for only Sophie- for her former captain to come to grips with and accept for herself before Vashti could even approach to comfort her.

"L-lead them." Sophie choked between sobs. She clenched her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut, trying fighting off the next bout of tears in the most literal way possible. "Keep them… them and the commander-" Her once charming features contorted into a pained mix of anguish and indignation. She couldn't finish her plea, but deep down, Vashti knew it- for it was the same wish every Maiden in Oracle held.

"I won't let you down, ma'am!" Vashti saluted. She never saluted, but in this moment -this _very_ instant- the perpetual drowsiness had fled her voice. The lethargy that often plagued her movements blasted away by the display in front of her.

It was a damned order. No-one could live up to the achievements that Sophie Arden had accomplished while leading Oracle Squad. She had pushed the very limitations of herself, her unit, and everyone around her to the point where they themselves ascended with her…

And yet, she fell.

And if _she_ fell...

Who was Vashti to even _think_ that she could live up to _that_ level of brilliance?


	2. Chapter 2

"Dia Foster, M103 operator reporting!" The buxom blonde saluted enthusiastically, swiping her aviators off her face revealing her brilliant blue eyes. She hung them from her tied-top khaki uniform that matched Vashti's, drawing attention to her…"front plate".

For once, Vashti was happy that her default expression was always a tired, vacant frown- it hid her distastes for things and people well.

"Welcome to Oracle Squad~" Vashti gave her new comrade and fellow countrywoman a wary handshake couple with a stifled yawn. She meant no disrespect by it, it was just something she just couldn't help.

"Aubrey's replacement~" Vashti could hear her own tired voice echoing through the empty briefing room. How she wished that the Commander was here to do the induction to the squad for her. That, and how she wished Aubrey had stayed... but she took the position in Norn with Penny, and at the end of the day those two girls were peas in a pod.

Dia had quickly climbed the ranks of Backwater, eventually joining Norn- Vashti's old squad and then eventually to…

Vashti couldn't help but stare at the Fate Pin that hung from Dia's neck on a silver chain just above her heart… just as every maiden in the Fated. It was their honor, their bond, their saving grace… if all that resonance-science mumbo-jumbo was to be believed.

"When do I get to meet the girls?" Dia's smile had faltered slightly- no doubt she knew of the "Vashti Time", as the others in the base called it. Being a victim of Vashti's lethargic pace though… well it was a trying of patience that one had to _experience_.

"They should be here any moment." Vashti readjusted her soft-cover, a way for her to subtly center her thoughts, "I wanted to speak about your role in the unit before anything else."

Dia lit up instantly, an enthusiasm that was the complete antithesis of Vashti's calm, sleepy indifference.

"You will be the secondary screen- you move with me in formation though I will lead the wedge. We take the attention and buy time for Edith, Tia, and Anouk to maneuver and close distance." It was simple, not at all full of the flash and daring like the stories that the younger recruits tended to hear about Oracle. Yet it didn't seem to phase Dia, whom simply bounced with more excitement.

"Yes! This is going to be so awesome!" Dia practically squealed with glee, "The apes and cold-bloods that Norn has been fighting just don't put up the fight that I want. We finally get to take it to those Fareers!" Dia grinned, punching one gloved fist into the other, further emphasizing her aggressive desires.

Vashti frowned for real this time.

"Yet you will still have to stay in formation when we push. It's important that I take the majority of it," Vashti deflated a little bit of Dia's balloon, but didn't outright burst it, "Your cannon is newer than mine- if you are disabled we lose more firepower than if I go down." Even with the offhanded notion of sacrificing herself, Vashti's stern glare denied any chance for Dia's rebuttal.

"We can discuss it further when the tactics meeting starts for real." Vashti awkwardly swept it all aside, gently scratching her cheek while hoping that Dia would simply leave it where it lay.

"Ma'am!" Dia saluted her superior.

Even Vashti forgot that she held rank. The command structure of Backwater was loose, but there still was _some_ structure.

That, and Vashti saw the rest of Oracle more as her sisters than as her subordinates. Nervously she fussed with one of the tin pins she kept on the collar of her uniform, avoiding the confused gaze of her new 'sister'. How quickly Dia had shattered her facade.

"Y-you don't have to 'ma'am' me."

"Vashti!" A young, excitable voice announced Anouk's presence long before the Gallian maiden had reached the room.

"Anouk! _Ralentissez_!"

Another voice, panicked and desperate echoed out from the hallway. There was an incoming commotion that drew both of their attention towards the doorway. Dia was already in excited suspense, wide grin at the chaos that was to unfold.

"I heard we have a new member!" A petite young woman burst into the normally quiet and somber briefing room with the force of a one-woman marching band. Indeed, the small Gallian maiden's uniform reminded Vashti of a drum major.

"Non! Anouk that is a rude introduction! She-!" In spilled a second maiden, clearly trying to halt the white-haired light tank maiden that had outrun her.

"A-ah! Ahem!" startled, the auburn haired maiden straightened out her skirt and fixed the ribbons of her flowing pigtails that had come loose with all the commotion.

"Edith Salet- A pleasure!" Edith curtsied before them… an oddly formal gesture considering they were among equals here…

"Anouk Lavoisier! Of the Lavoisier family!" The small girl twirled her stovepipe-of-a-hat from her head with a deep, flourished bow.

"Non! Anouk! _Vous n'êtes pas censé utiliser votre nom complet!_ "

"Hush you!" Anouk puffed her cheeks and frowned as hard as she could at Edith.

"Typical Gallian manners- hasty introductions followed by making fools of one's-selves," a haughty Britannian accent drifted through the open doorway, the soft rhythmic tapping of heels keeping a steady beat to the melodic voice, "Did I not tell you ladies that first impressions are _everything_?" In strode a tall, confident woman with a preternatural grace that was complete opposite to what Dia and Vashti had just witnessed with the Gallian maidens. Her posture and demeanor lending an aura of sophistication.

"Tia. Tia Windsor." The Britannian maiden smiled quietly, gently brushing aside a wave of her golden locks, sending a ripple down the waterfall of hair that reached to her shins. Her black uniform was pressed and perfect on every crease, white skirt and stockings practically aglow with the clean contrast. A strong first impression indeed, Vashti mused to herself.

"All this noise." Another blonde young woman had trudged in, her petite frame hidden behind the flowing curtain that was Tia's hair.

"Svoboda, Lana." The young veteran spoke quietly, her thick Bavarian accent clashing with the Slovanian pronunciation of her name. She quietly shuffled past the diverse gathering of maidens, taking her usual seat next to Vashti's- 11 o' clock on the round table.

Spots reserved for the only two original members of Oracle Squad that remained.

"The Commander said to begin the meeting without him." She crossed her arms with a frown, clearly waiting for the antics to cease and the business to begin.

"Don't mind Lana, she is just like that!" Anouk swept up the new Heavy Tank maiden, despite Dia being more than double her size. With energetic aplomb, she ushered Dia into the recently vacant 6 o' clock seat.

"Let the Gallian sisterhood show you what _true_ hospitality looks like, Dia!"

"I… never told you my name?" Dia's mixture of bemused confusion almost made Vashti crack a giggle… and then off went Anouk- their little spitfire of energy- towards the drink cabinet.

"Dia and Tia! Tia did you know it was going to be Dia? Now we need a Mia!" The Gallian girl rambled on and on while everyone else took their seats. Without missing a beat, Anouk had gathered refreshments for all, passing them to Edith for serving.

Vashti could only sigh. All of this noise, excitement, and interaction was draining- all she wanted to do was head back to bed...

It was going to be a long meeting.


End file.
